Leo Scala Designs Four One-of-a-Kind Guitars for the Gibson Master Artisan Collection

The Master Artisan Collection from Gibson features the iconic instrument brand collaborating with renowned luthiers across the globe for one-of-a-kind guitar collections. Every new series in the Master Artisan Collection features instruments and accessories that are custom designed and built to be the pinnacle of craftsmanship, authentically Gibson Custom Shop and extraordinarily rare. The Master Artisan Collection from Gibson Custom Shop is only available directly from the Gibson Garage in Nashville, TN, call (615) 933-6000.

Gibson Custom Shop is proud to launch a new Master Artisan Collection with four, one-of-a-kind guitars designed and created by Los Angeles based luthier Leo Scala, the founder of Scala Guitars and one of the world’s foremost guitar makers. During his three decade career, Leo has established an enviable reputation for his unique creativity and impeccable craftsmanship, in addition to his passion for Gibson instruments.

This ultra-rare Gibson Master Artisan Collection consists of the: Q27 Flying V, ’52 Deville SG, Theodore Retroliner, and Code Red R9 Les Paul. These four, one-of-a-kind guitars are like no other guitar in existence and are designed to be enjoyed for a lifetime. All guitars come with a hard case and a custom-made Certificate of Authenticity with Leo’s signature.

Working for the last 25 years in his small workshop near Los Angeles, Leo Scala has gained a reputation for stunning creativity and obsessive craftsmanship, as well as a passion for Gibson instruments. Scala grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, in a world he describes as full of old buildings, relics, elements, and patinas that influenced his aesthetic. He started out studying chemical engineering and playing classical music on the clarinet, but as a young man in the mid-90s, his passions led him to rock and roll, to America, and to electric guitars, which he began building as a hobby for friends back in Europe.

Working in spirit, alongside the bold inventors who originally designed the Les Paul, Flying V, Theodore, and SG in the 1950s and early 1960s, for the Master Artisan Collection, Leo tuned his focus to the materials and techniques of that period and began to tinker and iterate. Every detail of each guitar is obsessively conceived, customized, and handmade.

“It’s always the sound,” says Leo Scala. “It can be extremely flashy, but if you pick it up and it doesn’t do its own thing, then you just missed the whole point. It’s not art that should be hanging on a wall; it’s a performing piece of art.”

Explore the Gibson Master Artisan Collection on Gibson.com.

Gibson Master Artisan Collection:

Leo Scala ’52 DeVille SG:

Leo Scala ’52 DeVille SG

The ’52 DeVille SG™ takes its inspiration from multiple sources, and yet it remains unmistakably Gibson. It starts by imagining an alternate history, with a Gibson SG being released concurrently with the first Gibson Les Paul™, which was introduced in 1952. The trapeze tailpiece was inspired by the ’52 Les Paul, but a compensated wraparound bridge is incorporated to make it far more functional while maintaining the vintage aesthetic. At first glance, the pickguard appears to be the original small-style SGpickguard, but on closer inspection, it is larger than those found on the first SGs. Like a vintage ’58 Explorer™ pickguard, it extends up between the pickups and is made with the four-ply pickguard material of the 1950s. The internal wiring style is from the 50s, complete with Bumblebee capacitors, and the custom-built, hand wound Retrophonic pickups are made like the 50s era Patent Applied For models, not like the 60s Patent Number pickups that equip most SGs. The covered neck and uncovered bridge pickup configuration is a nod to Jimmy Page and his “Number One” Les Paul, while the “mixed” black Top Hat knobs – two with metal inserts and two without – are a tribute to another legendary ’59 Gibson – Greeny. All of these elements are things that are familiar to Gibson fans but that have never been brought together on a single guitar until now, resulting in a unique guitar that is recognizable yet new, vintage yet modern, and quintessentially Gibson.

Leo Scala Q27 Flying V:

Leo Scala Q27 Flying V

The Q27 Flying V™ represents a moment in time that Leo Scala artfully captured when his city (Los Angeles, California) was completely shut down and resembled an apocalyptic no-man’s-land. Leo had traveled to Europe to visit his parents and was on the last flight to the USA before the cutoff of all international travel due to COVID-19 restrictions, and because he had been traveling and potentially exposed to the virus, he was told that he needed to quarantine. “Stay the f*ck home” was the message that impressed on him the importance of the quarantine. So, to keep away from his wife and kids, he went to his workshop studio to quarantine. As he was headed to work, he realized that L.A. looked like a movie. It was abandoned. Barren. There was no one on the streets or freeways. Everywhere he looked, the town was empty. And at that moment, he realized that he’s been in a quarantine of sorts for most of his life because he was constantly in isolation. He works on his own. Leo decided to capture that moment on a guitar, and the idea for the Q27 Flying V was born.

Some of the elements incorporated into the Q27 Flying V include an extended Stop Bar for improved drop-tuning performance and the number 13 on the back on the Ace of Spades. This represents Friday the 13th when Leo was flying back to L.A. It has a pilot with a skull in its eye that represents that flight and, as Leo put it, “that thing you’re scared of, that you know people are dying from.” Q27 is embossed into the metal pickguard. The name of the guitar is the Q27 Flying V (not the “Stay the f*ck home V”). Q27 was when the guitar was completed – on the 27th and final day of Leo’s quarantine and also represents the total number of days it took to complete the guitar.

Leo had a conversation with Gibson President and Interim CEO, Cesar Gueikian during this time period and learned that Gibson was completely shut down due to the pandemic. Like Los Angeles, the Gibson craftories were deserted, and nothing was being made. Nothing, with the exception of the Q27 Flying V – it is the only Gibson guitar that was completed during the COVID pandemic shutdown.

Leo Scala Theodore Retroliner: